Entwined In Time
by Cela08
Summary: (OC-centric) The past will always gouge deep marks into the future. A fox and sparrow from two drastically different outcomes of the same world. A trio of witches fleeing from their crimes. A corrupt businesswoman cat willing to take drastic measures to settle a grudge. The fragments of a long-dead deer destroyed by her own rage rising to blindly avenge a past she can't remember.


**AN: hey, cela08 here with a fic i've wanted to write for a while. there's a lot of sonic cd in it. also it's totally oc-centric, so most canon sonic characters will likely end up only making cameos at most. you don't have to already know about my ocs for this, especially considering this is supposed to be what establishes them. this is set primarily in the game canon. also i'm going to totally disregard sonic 4 because it greatly complicates the fate of little planet and honestly shouldn't have had little planet in it at all imo.**

The stench of oil and smog clogged the polluted air, feeling almost suffocating. Bright lights written into meaningless phrases hung into the air, pulsing in sickly neons and casting their harsh glows onto the filthy metallic ground. Among all the clashing colors, the grime-smeared mobian fox stood out like a dying flower in a field of tangled weeds with her matted pale pink fur. Tangle always hated heading out for supplies.

She stealthily slipped from one hiding spot to another - and there was no shortage of hiding spots in the jumble of pipes, neon signs, and bumpers which made up Collision Chaos. The sound of a sparking wire nearly caused her to leap in fright, clutching the crowbar in her gloved hands so tightly it left her palms sore. Breathing a sigh of relief when she realized it was just a wire, she kept on navigating the cluttered and overwhelming former pinball park. Finding a spot clear of traps with no badniks in sight, she lightly and cautiously sat down to take a deep breath, though very nearly coughing on the toxins in the air.

She hadn't noticed before, but she was very high up. Most of Collision Chaos was visible from up here. It was both breathtaking... and stunningly depressing. She had never seen it in its prime, as she had been born after Robotnik's declaration of rulership over Little Planet, but sometimes she would try to imagine this place and other places on her planet like it, as they had been before they had been mechanized and left to rot.

She had never really seen Robotnik himself either aside from a few TV broadcasts of self-praise he aired before his death - ironically, the megalomaniacal scientist's cause of death had been though being poisoned by the smoke generated by his own machinery. Everyone had been waiting with bated breath for his demise, in hopes that the cause going away would fix all of the effects, but things never got any better. After all, he was the only one who could have gotten rid of the mechanical casing around the planet which kept them from leaving. With no one in charge, the now-neglected machines which had overtaken the planet began to decay and fall apart like everything and everyone trapped there.

Tangle snapped herself out of her thoughts. Wistful reveries wouldn't fill anyone's stomachs. She leapt down from her seat onto a lower platform, wincing slightly when the landing was a little harder than expected.

She passed by a broken-down badnik resembling a highly stylized butterfly. It was in a somewhat pitiable state, its wings having great holes in them which rendered it completely flightless. She smashed it with a quick crack of her crowbar, knowing that it would likely slowly fall apart and cease to function anyway even if she let it be. A yellow-orange flower with four rectangular petals sprouted from the scraps, vibrant and healthy against all odds. It was a welcome sight among the rest of her surroundings.

Swiftly moving on in case any more functional badniks heard the crash, she broke into a brisk jog, hopping from one floating platform to another. One jump she slightly miscalculated, trembling as she tottered dangerously close to the edge - below, rows of spikes, the body of another mobian who had made the same mistake impaled and staining them a deep red. Stumbling backwards with panicked and ragged breaths, she gathered her bearings and carefully hopped over to the next platform.

Spotting a survivor campsite, she could tell immediately that it was likely abandoned by whoever had taken shelter there by the way the tents were collapsed. With a twinge of discomfort she noticed one of the fallen tents had blood pooling at the entrance, the bloodstains in its fabric hidden by the tent having already been a dull red color. It always felt wrong raiding the campsites of the dead for supplies. It didn't seem as though the robot responsible was still around, so she apprehensively crept over, sidestepping an over-sized bumper with its paint flaking off.

Hesitantly she lifted the bloodied tent and crinkled her nose at the stench of death. A corpse of a mobian kangaroo lay on the ground, a long, scythe-like metal boomerang lodged in their body. It was definitely the work of one of the mantis-like badniks, and it was entirely possible it was still around with its other boomerang. But it wouldn't be here, if she was lucky. She noticed with disappointment that the most there was as far as edible supplies was a single can of beans and a dead pale-yellow flicky that looked to be recently caught. Picking both up and sticking them in a grey knapsack she held at her side, she stepped away from the bloodied tent and headed over towards the other, noting that it was also unoccupied. Whoever else stayed at this campsite had likely left in a hurry after the kangaroo was killed. There was no food inside, though there was a pack of batteries and... a laptop? She had never seen one in working condition before, and curiosity overtook her. She stuck the batteries and the computer in her knapsack, making sure to keep them a good space away from the dead flicky.

A badnik's whir behind her caused her to rapidly turn around, her vibrant yellow-green eyes falling onto a mantis badnik with one missing boomerang. Guess it did stick around. Grasping her crowbar, she held her breath, realizing it hadn't noticed her yet. She couldn't flee while it was still there, because it would most certainly see her then. But then, its head turned to face her, and outdated commands to keep mobians in line flickered into its system, it launching the boomerang at Tangle's head. She nimbly dodged out of the way as it ripped effortlessly through the tent fabric, using its current vulnerability as an opportunity to attack and escape. Crashing her crowbar into its side, she quickly took a deep breath and channeled some of the rust that encrusted the ground through the crowbar and onto the badnik's body, leaving it immobilized. She then quickly jumped away as the boomerang returned to the now harmless badnik. With one final swing, she smashed the badnik to bits, leaving behind another flower.

With a sigh of relief, Tangle turned and ran, looking for the nearest sort of shelter. She needed to get some rest before returning to her own campsite. Finding a wide but well-hidden gap in a wall, she slid inside and sat down. Curiosity drove her to pull the laptop out of the bag to try it out. She opened it to an instant messaging program of some sort and a diary kept in a text program. She noticed with sadness that the diary had ended with its writer stating their only friend left alive was staying at camp with them. She ignored it, not wanting to read any more. She likely never knew the diary's writer, but she still found it disrespectful.

In the chat program, every single contact was "offline", likely the deceased friends the diary mentioned. On the top was a button which said "Random Chat", and she felt a sudden hope that maybe she could get in contact with someone - whether they be a survivor who could help her, or someone on Earth who could send a rescue party. She noticed thankfully that she could touch the screen to pick it, because she doubted she would have figured out how to choose things any other way.

Another window popped up that said "Chat with featherbrain124", and a box at the bottom with "Send" beside it appeared to be where she was supposed to put her messages. For a moment she tried to write letters on-screen into the box, but then noticed the rows of buttons with letters on it on the bottom half of the laptop. Slowly, one at a time, she began to type and read the words that appeared on the screen in reply.

"shiningreflection: hello

featherbrain124: uhhhh, who is this?

shiningreflection: my name is tangle

shiningreflection: im very new to this

featherbrain124: why are you contacting me?

shiningreflection: i just hit random chat is that okay/

shiningreflection: how do you make a question mark/ i hit the button with the question mark on it but it just made this /

featherbrain124: wait wait wait. are you new to this program, or are you new to computers? and you hold shift and then press the question mark button

shiningreflection: ? ? thank you also yes to both

shiningreflection: what are you doing if thats okay to ask?

featherbrain124: uh i'm just at a fast food place. what are you doing?

shiningreflection: hiding

featherbrain124: ?

featherbrain124: from what?

shiningreflection: robots

featherbrain124: whoa are you okay?

shiningreflection: yes right now its fine though they cant find me in here

featherbrain124: that doesn't sound fine at all. have you tried calling someone for help?

shiningreflection: that was actually what i got on here to do i dont have any other way to contact people

featherbrain124: well i don't think you're gonna find someone who can help you through this chat program. and we're probably really far away because there aren't any killer robots where i live!

shiningreflection: okay thats fine you wouldnt want to live near killer robots anyway

featherbrain124: look, i'm really concerned now so if you need to message me again i'll be here?

shiningreflection: that would be nice thank you"

Tangle guessed she was talking to someone from Earth. Suddenly, she heard the whir of gears and the rolling of wheels on the ground. She knew she had to hurry and get back to her campsite, so she hastily typed a goodbye and closed the computer.

"shiningreflection: well i have to go now i heard something bye and thank you

featherbrain124: wait, what's going on?

featherbrain124: are you alright?

featherbrain124: shining?"

No reply. Aria sighed and closed her phone. "Weird," she muttered to herself. Chances were, she was talking to some bozo pranking her, or maybe a roleplayer who was having too much fun in-character. Of course, there was always the chance she _had_ really been in contact with someone from Earth who was in serious danger, but it wasn't like there was anything she'd be able to do anything about it with what little she knew about them.

She spent a couple idle minutes in her thoughts before a voice piped up.

"Order number 8!" a cashier yelled, and Aria got up because that was her order number.

Heading over to the counter, the cashier handed her a carton of fries and a smoothie, and then she headed outside and sat down on a bench. Vibrant potted plants in all manner of fancy containers lined the shopping street. It was in a rather nice spot - she could see a great deal of the rest of Collision Chaos from here.

The bustling pinball park was one of many of its kind, but Collision Chaos was notable for its picturesque beauty and clean air, which was in no small part due to being on Little Planet, famed for the way its people had integrated technology and nature in such a way that both could thrive. It also had a mostly consistent and pleasant color scheme of blue-green and purple, unlike most other pinball parks which focused on being as colorful as possible. She also could hear the excited cheers of mobians of varied ages either bouncing around in the giant pinball machines or winning a game of slots, the pings and boings of bumpers and springs peppered throughout.

The mobian sparrow had always found the giant pinball machines pretty cool, and being able to slow her descent when she fell made it easier to win prizes, but she wasn't really here for that. She had actually went to Collision Chaos to meet up with some friends, but she had gotten lost along the way. At least she found the vendor street so she wasn't so hungry anymore. She was starting to consider asking around for help... but that'd require her admitting she got lost, wouldn't it? Plus, during the busiest month of the year, she'd be just as likely to ask a tourist as she would be to ask someone who actually knew where they were going.

Pushing through the crowd of humans and mobians, she started searching for a map. However, she was stopped in her tracks when she bumped into another mobian, a jerboa with black fur. And, much to Aria's dismay, the collision caused her to drop her smoothie onto the ground.

"Oh- oh crap! I'm sorry, I should've watched where I was going." the jerboa apologized, stumbling back a little bit. "I didn't mean to make you drop your drink! Uh, look... I'll buy you another!"

Aria hadn't even been given a chance to reply before the volley of apologies, but she wasn't about to complain about getting her smoothie replaced. "Really? Alright, follow me back over to the place I got it at." She could tell near-immediately that the jerboa was definitely a tourist from the eclectic outfit - but then again, since when was that a common fashion on Earth, either? Bright red-and-white skirt and socks, a glove and a shirt both bright pink with a bumper's star-in-circle picture on it, a purple hoodie with "COPE" written on the side in yellow-and-red checkered text... But what alarmed Aria slightly was the mechanical arm painted in bright colors where the jerboa's left arm should've been.

"Whoa, hold on, what happened to your arm?!" Aria blurted out, realizing only after she said it that she phrased it a bit tactlessly.

The jerboa glanced over to her mechanical arm, not surprised at all by the question. "Eh, it's just a custom prosthetic. Lost my arm a few years ago."

Aria seemed a little guilty for having asked it the way she did. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize... Are you upset about it, or something?"

"Actually, it has a built in laser light system, so I'm not upset at all. It's awesome." the jerboa explained casually as they headed back over to the fast food place. "Anyway, my name is Gambit. You look a little bit young to be wandering around here all by yourself, though..."

Aria shrugged. "My parents are pretty alright with me travelling around. Little Planet is a pretty safe place. You're a tourist, right?" she said.

"Uh, sort of?" Gambit answered. "I'm just here because I wanted to see Collision Chaos for myself."

" _Sooooo,_ you're a tourist." Aria somewhat smugly replied, though it was in good humor.

Gambit stifled a laugh. "Okay, okay, you're right. But I run my own pinball park, and I wanted to know what makes this place so successful." She paused, looking around. "If I were to guess, it'd probably be because it's such a beautiful and genuinely nice place, but I've always been a bigger fan of neons myself."

"I can tell," Aria said dryly, eyeing Gambit's outfit. Her own outfit was rather simple - gloves, a skirt, and shoes in a nice fade of pastel-to-mid purple - and it looked pretty nice with her light blue and purple feathers.

Walking back into the fast food place, they saw the cashier gave Aria a quick confused glance as to why she was back already, but he didn't comment.

Gambit looked over the menu for a few brief moments before speaking. "Alright, uh, what's-your-name-"

"My name's Aria."

"Alright, Aria, which one did you get?"

Aria pointed up to a listing on the menu. "The strawberry smoothie. A large one." Actually, she had only gotten a medium for the sake of price, but she could definitely go for a bigger one.

"Jeez, seriously? I have to spend _that much_ on a smoothie for a stranger?" Gambit complained in a tone of voice that made it impossible to tell whether or not she was joking. "Alright, fine, I did promise. A large strawberry smoothie, please." she ordered, then sliding over some money to the cashier.

He went to the back room to grab a smoothie, and quickly returned with it. "It's slightly warm from sitting in there, but it should still be fine."

"Slow work day, huh?" Gambit remarked. "Isn't the month Little Planet appears on Earth supposed to be when it's at its most crowded?"

The cashier shrugged lazily. "What kind of tourists would go to all the trouble of travelling to Little Planet just to go to a major fast food chain? Nope, most everybody who's not from 'round here's off eating at planet-exclusive establishments." He then hurried over to take the order of some other mobian.

Aria sat down at a table as she drank her smoothie, Gambit doing the same. Aria had always found the tables in there tacky, with their bright orange-and-white checkered patterns. It felt to her like the decor in the burger shop was a tad outdated.

"Why's a kid your age all on your own in a place this crowded?" Gambit suddenly asked, while also wishing she had bought a smoothie for herself.

Aria didn't make eye contact, a little embarrassed. "I was supposed to meet my friends here - in Collision Chaos, I mean, not the fast food place - and I got totally lost. I told my parents I knew the way, but I didn't." Then, she pulled her phone out of her skirt pocket, flipping it open to see if any of her friends had asked where she was, but they didn't. She also noted that "shiningreflection" was still offline with slight worry. "Guess they forgot they invited me." She sighed with disappointment.

Gambit looked around awkwardly. "Well, I suppose I'll be going then...?" She slowly got up from the velvety red seat, turning to walk out the door. "We may see each other again, though - I'll be on Little Planet all month."

"See ya." Aria said dully, staring at her phone. Despite herself, she couldn't help but think about the odd chat she had earlier with shiningreflection. She wondered to herself if they were okay.


End file.
